Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-07
IN and the unauthorized acts of this bu-

April Is, 1888, the legislature OF this
state, for the first time in the history OF
this government, passed an act requiring
all parties holding cattle upon the public
domain (school lands) to lease them,
under heavy penalties.
This act was passed right in the face of
constitution that authorized no other
disposition of the public school lands
than by sale.
In our opinion, there never was any
authority in the Legislature to lease the
public free school lands, as they are
callsd; that is, the lands Of which we
have been speaking-the vast public do
main of the state-particularly after the
adoption Of the amendments to the con-
stituion, in September, 1888. Section
of the amended constitution directed, in
so many words, that "the lands herein
set apart to the public free school fund
shall be sold.r
The language is Inandatory-"shall be
sold" are the words. There is not q word
said il the constitution as to any other
manner Of disposition. After this amend
ment, were they authorized to lease? We
think such was not the intention of the
trainers of the constitution. This is the
ing OF the constitution relating to the
lands granted to counties for educational
purposes (secuOn 6, article I, of the con-
stitution). The language there used was:
"May sell or dispose, in whole or in
part"
That the attention of the trainers was
called to these distinctions, Is perfectly
apparent upon comparison of the
language of sections ,, 4, 6, 9, and 10,
article /, of the constitution.
The burdensome features of this act, as
you remember, were the coercive ones,
the minimum price per acre, the maximum
time, and the small quantity of grazing
land that could be purchased.
1t was an act that provided for sale as
well as lease. All of these provisions
were definitely fixed in the act and an
agency was appointed, called the land
board, to carry out it's provisions. 1t is
too. lengthy matter to go into history
of this boards proceedings, and suffice
it to say, they by arbitrary rule doubled
the rental price, refused to sell grazing
lands, and after raising the price time and
again, finally refused to lease watered
lands at all.
When all this had been done, this valu-
able industry was at the mercy of an If
responsible board of officials. You know
the rest. You are left with portion of
former possessions, and the state in less
than three years has lost over 500, 900
in taxable values from this industry alone,
according to the estimate recently pub
lished by the Bureau of Animal Industry
the most reliable authority We have,
perhaps. 1t is true the tax rolls in tine
State Comptroller's Office only show this
loss to be $50, 1879, 67S. We do not charge
that the loss of all of this vast sum was
owing to the acts of the Legislature, but
much of it was. The same cattle that are
now worth only IS to $40 per head in
Texas, are worth SIS to 500 per head in
the grazing districts NORTH where the sur
rounding influences are not so unfriendly.
Ii costs as much to market cattle from
these countries as it does from Texas.
WANTS OF THE INDUSTRY.
In response to the question, what are
the wants of the cattle interests of Texas?
briefly, to summarize them, we would
say: In common with the wants of the cat
tie interests of the entire country they need
the protection of the general Govern
ment against that dread scourge. con-
longer any doubt of the existence OF this
fearful malady in many OF the states of
this Union. If we would save our own
cattle interests from the almost utter de
struCtion that has attended the visitation
of this plague in Australia and parts of
the old world, power must be given to
some authorities of the general govern
ment 10 deal at once with this matter.
| From the complex nature of our govern
ment, being federal and state, the federal
is the only power that can act promptly
and at once, in all parts of the country
where the disease may show itself. AS it
is a matter that directly threatens and
affects Interstate commerce, tits thought
| by good authorities on constitutional law
| that there is no question but that the
general government has the power to
control it. The experience of other coun-
tries teaches US that the only way TO deal
| with this dread scourge is to at once de-
strOy all diseased or exposed AMI
mails. To do this requires a large
appropriation to pay for stock destroyed,
with power in officials to act promptly.
A bill is now before Congress for the &C
complishment of this object, called the
Miller bill. In our opinion, every effort
should be made to insure its immediate
passage. We consider no other matter
so vitality important for the cattle inter
ests of the whole country. We also be-
lieye similar measure should be urged
before our present Legislature, now in
session, with power to declare state quar-
antine, if necessa:y,againstt the approach
of this dread disease. We have now no
state quarantine law,
We also want butchering and refriger-
sting establishments at home, or, as it
was furcibly expressed by friend of mine
in my hearing the other day, "We want
to quit sending steer half across the
continent for somebody to kill him."
We need improved and cheaper trans
portatlon, such as deep water on our
gulf coast would afford. From the most
reliable attainabie statistics the number
of head of live stock that go
annually to market from Texas is
nearly 100000. ALI of those trans
ported by rJil cost in transportation near
ly SIS per head, S35 per cent. of what they
bring at present prices. Tie saving in
freights from this Industry alone, with
twenty-five feet of water on our Texas
coast, would in five years pay the cost of
deep water, admitting the cost was as
great as estimated under what was called
the Esds plan. The saving to the other
interests of the state, particularly the cot
ton, would be much more. AS the gen.
eral government fails to do this it should